Cardinal Keith O'Brien Admits Sexual Misconduct, Gay Rights Group Demands Apology

Another day, another sexual scandal in the Catholic Church.

Britain's leading gay rights group is demanding an apology from Cardinal Keith O'Brien, who stepped down last week as Britain's top Roman Catholic cleric after admitting "sexual misconduct."

O'Brien, who could've participated in the ongoing papal conclave convened to elect a new pontiff after former pope Benedict XVI's resignation, was accused of "inappropriate behavior" by several priests. He then admitted "sexual misconduct" and resigned from his post. 

"My sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal," he said. 

However, Stonewall Chief Executive Ben Summerskill said Monday that the British gay rights group noted "with sadness that the cardinal didn't find it in him to apologize to gay people, their families and friends for the harm his vicious and cruel language caused."

O'Brien (74) was accused of impropriety with accounts from the four men, according to The Observer. One of the men was a seminarian when Cardinal O'Brien, then a priest, served as a "powerful supervisory figure" in two Scottish seminaries. The others were young priests.

O'Brien had been a "staunch advocate" of church teaching against homosexuality, calling same-sex marriage "a grotesque subversion of a universally accepted human right."